Motoring: On the road | The Guardianhttps://www.theguardian.com/technology/series/ontheroad
Latest news and features from theguardian.com, the world's leading liberal voiceen-gbGuardian News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved. 2016Sat, 10 Dec 2016 03:42:14 GMT2016-12-10T03:42:14Zen-gbGuardian News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved. 2016The Guardianhttps://assets.guim.co.uk/images/guardian-logo-rss.c45beb1bafa34b347ac333af2e6fe23f.pnghttps://www.theguardian.com
Mercedes E-class car review – ‘Makes driving feel like flying’https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/dec/03/mercedes-e-class-car-review
<p>Every move I made, it was already there. Every thought I thinked, it had already thunk it</p><p>If you were given to conspiracy theories, the Mercedes E-class would be your nemesis. Every move I made, every corner, every rev, it was already there. Every thought I thinked, it had already thunk it. Opening the boot in a shower, watching water drip round the perfectly designed rubber piping, so that nothing touched me or my luggage, I felt gripped by a sudden mourning. Such a lot of thought has gone into this – more than thought, empathy. If only that kind of intelligence could have gone somewhere useful, like the refugee crisis. But look, we are where we are. This boot is awesome and my plentiful luggage is as dry as toast.</p><p>I’ve never sat in a car thinking, “If only this was a nine-speed automatic”, but the truth is, this was subtle and elegant at every speed, shifting deftly, making driving feel like flying. You could feel its grip on the road, and it spread confidence, via your butt, throughout the car.</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/dec/03/mercedes-e-class-car-review">Continue reading...</a>MotoringTechnologySat, 03 Dec 2016 11:00:20 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/dec/03/mercedes-e-class-car-reviewPhotograph: Barry HaydenPhotograph: Barry HaydenZoe Williams2016-12-03T11:00:20ZHonda Civic Tourer car review – 'This is the car you would drive if you were one of only four taxi drivers in a seaside town’https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/nov/12/honda-civic-tourer-car-review-zoe-williams
<p>I can imagine the life for which this would be the best possible car</p><p>I never fell for the Honda Civic Tourer and I felt bad about that, like I’d fostered a dog and could see how hard it was trying but in the end it was still a spaniel and the love never came. This is the car you would drive if you were one of only four taxi drivers in a seaside town; it doesn’t look fancy and that’s fine, because if people want glitz, they can damn well move to Canterbury.</p><p>The only people it will overtake on dual carriageways are the three other taxis, but that’s fine, too; if people want to race, they can buy their own car. Passengers get stuff usually reserved for the driver, though I have to say I had several passengers and nobody thanked me for the lumbar support.</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/nov/12/honda-civic-tourer-car-review-zoe-williams">Continue reading...</a>MotoringTechnologySat, 12 Nov 2016 11:00:47 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/nov/12/honda-civic-tourer-car-review-zoe-williamsPhotograph: PR Company HandoutPhotograph: PR Company HandoutZoe Williams2016-11-12T11:00:47ZEMicro One scooter review – ‘It's a beast’https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/nov/05/emicro-one-scooter-review
<p>My enjoyment varied with the terrain</p><p>You don’t need me to tell you about the Micro scooter: it is part of the holy trinity of child-rearing, along with the <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2013/may/23/bugaboo-designer-max-barenbrug-buggy">Bugaboo</a> (a large, outrageously comfort-driven baby buggy) and the Trunki (a wheeled suitcase with a charmful animal personality). They didn’t have them in our day, and people without children express through their disapproval all their hatred of modern parenting. For those with children, they’re the only game in town. My friend bought his nephew an own-brand supermarket version of the Micro and his brother picked it up and put it in the bin.</p><p>The adult version was an inevitability, and I have always scorned it as wilful infantilism, like taking up dummies or nappies because they look fun when your kid has them. But the EMicro One is a scooter with a motor, and a different beast; when you reach 5km an hour, the electric motor kicks in, then you are in a truly new transport space, somewhere between a three-year-old and a person with a mobility buggy. I don’t call it a beast lightly.</p><p> <span>Related: </span><a href="https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/aug/20/ribble-reynolds-525-bicycle-review-helen-pidd">Ribble Reynolds 525 bike review: ‘Happily, the Ribble is a trooper, even if I am not’</a> </p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/nov/05/emicro-one-scooter-review">Continue reading...</a>MotoringTechnologySat, 05 Nov 2016 11:00:45 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/nov/05/emicro-one-scooter-reviewPhotograph: julifoto/Reto Spinazze/PR Company HandoutPhotograph: julifoto/Reto Spinazze/PR Company HandoutZoe Williams2016-11-05T11:00:45ZToyota Rav4 hybrid car review – ‘I didn’t always watch the road. But it was fine. Nobody got hurt’https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/oct/29/toyota-rav4-hybrid-car-review-zoe-williams
<p>I used the horn so much that I can now do a passable impression of it, like David Attenborough and the woodpecker</p><p>The Toyota hybrid range is like a variety of bird – there’s the one you see everywhere, the <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/jun/25/car-review-toyota-prius-zoe-williams">Prius</a>, and for some reason that makes the rarer ones more exciting. The Rav4, as handsome a hybrid as I’ve seen in a while, has a sporty cousin, the <a href="https://www.toyota.co.uk/new-cars/c-hr/index.json">C-HR</a>. I can’t, if I’m honest, tell you what’s better about it (the styling is a bit boxier and more aggressive) but I can tell you that not one but two delivery guys clocked the Rav, said, “Nice car, but…” and got their phones out to show me the C-HR. In a lesson for progressives everywhere, the hybrids have shed their do-gooding image just by being so very new.</p><p> <span>Related: </span><a href="https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/oct/01/honda-jazz-car-review-zoe-williams">Honda Jazz car review: ‘Like driving your regular car after packing it for a holiday’</a> </p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/oct/29/toyota-rav4-hybrid-car-review-zoe-williams">Continue reading...</a>MotoringTechnologySat, 29 Oct 2016 10:00:17 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/oct/29/toyota-rav4-hybrid-car-review-zoe-williamsPhotograph: PR Company HandoutPhotograph: PR Company HandoutZoe Williams2016-10-29T10:00:17ZCitroën Cactus car review – ‘Its metier is rugged jaunts across tricky terrain’https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/oct/22/citroen-cactus-rip-curl-car-review-zoe-williams
<p>Bright red seatbelts look like ceremonial sashes: my kid has become an ambassador </p><p>Having a Citroën Cactus is a bit like painting your house pink; it sounds extraordinary and daring; it looks it for a while, but since you’re mostly inside it rather than outside, it’s your neighbours who have to live with it. I’m talking mainly about the side panels: bubbly sheets whose purpose was never plain to begin with. The Rip Curl keeps the panels and adds a number of driving modes (snow, sand, slipperiness), to ensure you’re ready for more than just bumping into things: you can now bump into things that are also driving on sand. It’s not obvious what the point is, for those of us not planning to reinvade Africa. It does have a mud setting, though, so is not totally inappropriate for the British weather.</p><p>That is its metier: rugged jaunts across tricky terrain. Round town, it doesn’t get much chance to show off, though it does have a pleasing interior. The driver’s seat is armchair-roomy, like going to a posh cinema. Bright red seatbelts give everyone the look of wearing a ceremonial sash, which can be discombobulating, especially when you catch your kids in the rear-view and try to remember when you made them the Icelandic ambassador. Heavily stylised stitching and natty door pulls make you feel as though you’re sitting inside 1930s luggage. The younger passengers were unimpressed with the pop-out back windows and moaned constantly about not being able to stick their heads out. (It was like being able to hear the internal monologue of a dog.) The satnav was so sluggish that on roundabouts you just had to get used to being told to take the exit you’d just passed.</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/oct/22/citroen-cactus-rip-curl-car-review-zoe-williams">Continue reading...</a>MotoringTechnologySat, 22 Oct 2016 10:00:13 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/oct/22/citroen-cactus-rip-curl-car-review-zoe-williamsPhotograph: Matthew Howell/PR Company HandoutPhotograph: Matthew Howell/PR Company HandoutZoe Williams2016-10-22T10:00:13ZVW California Ocean campervan review: ‘This van is amazing’https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/oct/08/vw-california-ocean-review-zoe-williams
<p>We spent a mind-bending amount of time just playing. It was like being an incredibly spoilt womanchild with a doll’s house<br></p><p>The fundamental question about a car (who would buy this, ahead of any other car?) is already answered by the <a href="https://www.volkswagen-vans.co.uk/range/camper-vans-t6/california-ocean">VW California Ocean</a>. This is for people who want to camp in their van. All those existential questions, like “If you want a shower and a cooker and a kettle and a sofa and a bed, why not stay in a building instead?” we just have to park, which will be easier to park than the California. Ours is not to interrogate camping in principle: only in practice.</p><p>Especially if you’re eight, but even when you’re 43, the sudden acres of space at the push of buttons blow your mind. The controls are very intuitive, and the showstopper is the roof: make sure the ignition is on, the van is not moving (that bit is crucial), the windows are open, the tap is not running (just because it makes a distracting noise), you are not having a shower, the side door is open (unless you listened to me about the windows) and press the central button. The roof pops open like a clam shell. The top bed is gigantic. A small amount of jigging joins the passenger seats into a bench behind and a second double bed emerges. They are actually not as large as I thought: I thought I could sleep on the bottom with two children. When this didn’t work, it set in train an epic, childhood-defining row over which kid I would choose, which ended with me sulking in the driver’s seat like a dad in a 1960s cartoon strip.</p><p> <span>Related: </span><a href="https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/sep/17/audi-rs6-car-review">Audi RS6 car review: ‘You could buy this car or you could buy a house in Lancashire’</a> </p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/oct/08/vw-california-ocean-review-zoe-williams">Continue reading...</a>MotoringVolkswagen (VW)TechnologyCamping holidaysSat, 08 Oct 2016 10:00:39 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/oct/08/vw-california-ocean-review-zoe-williamsPhotograph: PR Company HandoutPhotograph: PR Company HandoutZoe Williams2016-10-08T10:00:39ZHonda Jazz car review: ‘Like driving your regular car after packing it for a holiday’https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/oct/01/honda-jazz-car-review-zoe-williams
It has almost no acceleration in&nbsp;any gear – it behaves as though it’s carrying too much luggage and an unusual family member<p>My initial thought was that the Honda Jazz was nothing like jazz. Then I remembered the definition in <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LGlLEI8M2h0" title="">the Magnetic Fields song</a>: “It’s divine, it’s asinine, it’s depressing / And it’s almost entirely window dressing / But it’ll do” – and thought maybe that was the reference. Although you wouldn’t call it divine.</p><p>It is small, but it has no nip. In fact, it has almost no acceleration in&nbsp;any gear, and a bossy LED display constantly tells you to go up a gear when you feel as though you’re almost out of puff in the one you’re in. Setting off on a journey is like driving your regular car after packing it for a holiday: it behaves as though it’s carrying too much luggage and an unusual family member.</p><p> <span>Related: </span><a href="https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/sep/03/renault-megane-car-review-zoe-williams">Renault Mégane car review: ‘Cotswolds types make slurs against its Frenchness’</a> </p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/oct/01/honda-jazz-car-review-zoe-williams">Continue reading...</a>MotoringTechnologyHondaSat, 01 Oct 2016 10:00:16 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/oct/01/honda-jazz-car-review-zoe-williamsPhotograph: PR Company HandoutPhotograph: PR Company HandoutZoe Williams2016-10-01T10:00:16ZAudi RS6 car review: ‘You could buy this car or you could buy a house in Lancashire’https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/sep/17/audi-rs6-car-review
<p>It is impossible to critique unless you put the price to one side, but that is unfair on all the other cars</p><p>It is a car that people crossed the road to call nice. One guy undertook me in a chimp display and ran into the car in front of him; I tore past the wreckage (marred bumper), leaving him speechless with rage. The Audi RS6 was the best of cars, it was the worst of cars.</p><p>It was only not £100,000 because, in some silted recess of car-industry restraint, that is still understood to be an obscene amount to spend on a car. Instead, with all its trimmings, it was £99,420. What it was trying to achieve – a pleasurable, solid but chic family car that at the flick of a switch turns into a sports car that could quite plausibly take off or fire rockets – is an insanely expensive proposition. Incomprehensible extras (the carbon styling package, the “5-V-spoke” star design black gloss alloy wheels) added another Mazda to the price. You could buy this car, or you could buy a house in Lancashire, or you could buy a boat. It is impossible to critique unless you put the price to one side, but that is unfair on all the other cars. Because it is amazing; and maybe all the other cars would be, too, if they took leave of their senses.</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/sep/17/audi-rs6-car-review">Continue reading...</a>MotoringTechnologySat, 17 Sep 2016 10:00:45 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/sep/17/audi-rs6-car-reviewPhotograph: PR Company HandoutPhotograph: PR Company HandoutZoe Williams2016-09-17T10:00:45ZRenault Mégane car review: ‘Cotswolds types make slurs against its Frenchness’https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/sep/03/renault-megane-car-review-zoe-williams
<p>In eco mode, if you put your foot on the gas, the engine wheezes as if it runs on cheese and Gauloises</p><p>On a baking hot day, I drove the Renault Mégane out of town, whined up the motorway (this was before I discovered sports mode was possible, as well as eco) and before too long I was in Clarkson country. The Mégane is not a very Cotswolds car; in my head I could hear the denizens, all called Jeremy or Miles, making insistent xenophobic slurs against its Frenchness and the fact that it isn’t an SUV.</p><p>In eco mode, none of the gears has very much of anything except for reverse (so that it can run away when it meets an Audi), and you can grind the gas pedal into the floor (like a clove of garlic) and create nothing more than a wheezy noise (it sounds as if it runs on cheese and Gauloises). However, it is extremely economical, and the eco graphics are pleasing; little leaves adding to a plant as you improve your fuel efficiency with dainty acceleration and responsible handling. I hit peak leaf and could feel myself driving into the future, almost.</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/sep/03/renault-megane-car-review-zoe-williams">Continue reading...</a>MotoringTechnologyRenaultSat, 03 Sep 2016 10:00:28 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/sep/03/renault-megane-car-review-zoe-williamsPhotograph: PR Company HandoutPhotograph: PR Company HandoutZoe Williams2016-09-03T10:00:28ZSeat Mii car review: ‘To drive this, you have to be a surfer dude’https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/aug/27/seat-mii-car-review
<p>With a top speed of 106 and a slight reluctance to accelerate, even the sports version has a no-worries attitude</p><p>Sometimes the car isn’t the problem, you’re the problem. No, wait, I’m the problem. First, I was wearing shoes. The three-door Seat Mii feels cheap because it is cheap, and the cabin doesn’t lack elegance but has a thin, clackety acoustic that goes with not spending much.</p><p>And yet, with the sun out and the windows down, driving barefoot with the radio loud, via the six speakers and boot-mounted sub-woofer (optional, for an extra £185), you could be driving back from a beach in a hire car. Then you’d be thinking, I don’t mind this diddy car with its diddy engine, I like the nippy handling and neat gear changes and wipe-clean plastickyness. I don’t care if I get sand in it. I like the stable, if noisy, ride, it makes me feel like burning a few clicks for a kebab.</p><p> <span>Related: </span><a href="https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/aug/06/ford-focus-car-review">Ford Focus car review – ‘It has a slightly naff, travelling-salesman back story, but the handling is beautiful’</a> </p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/aug/27/seat-mii-car-review">Continue reading...</a>MotoringTechnologySat, 27 Aug 2016 10:00:00 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/aug/27/seat-mii-car-reviewPhotograph: PR Company HandoutPhotograph: PR Company HandoutZoe Williams2016-08-27T10:00:00ZRibble Reynolds 525 bike review: ‘Happily, the Ribble is a trooper, even if I am not’https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/aug/20/ribble-reynolds-525-bicycle-review-helen-pidd
<p> It also looks a delight and is clearly aimed at the fashionable retro market</p><p>It was one of those days when we had jumped the gun putting Lycra on. We sat in the front room in our cycling shorts looking out at the rain, willing the other to suggest hibernation instead. Neither did, so when the deluge had dulled to a drizzle, out we went. There was a bicycle to be tested, after all.</p><p>The Peak District lanes were wet, but it didn’t really matter to me. The Ribble had excellent mudguards; my bottom would stay dry. The same could not be said for my face. My cycling companion that day was not only a mudguard refusenik but also far faster than me, which meant an afternoon chasing him down, <a href="https://ragtimecyclist.com/2014/01/28/biking-behaviour-part-12-the-wheel-sucker/">sucking his wheel</a> and drinking puddle water until the sun came out. He is also a mountain biker, which meant a few ill-advised “shall we just see where this one goes?” diversions. One, past the Derbyshire village of Wash, involved pedalling up a gravelly stream and almost an early bath.</p><p> <span>Related: </span><a href="https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/jul/02/ikea-sladda-bicycle-review-helen-pidd">On the road: Ikea Sladda bicycle review – ‘Build your own Ikea bike? It’s either a masterstroke or a recipe for disaster’</a> </p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/aug/20/ribble-reynolds-525-bicycle-review-helen-pidd">Continue reading...</a>CyclingMotoringTechnologyLife and styleSat, 20 Aug 2016 10:00:01 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/aug/20/ribble-reynolds-525-bicycle-review-helen-piddPhotograph: PRPhotograph: PRHelen Pidd2016-08-20T10:00:01ZPeugeot 2008 car review: ‘The panoramic roof was a booby trap’https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/aug/13/car-review-peugeot-2008
<p>It has a lot of SUV styling, a beefy, bullish exterior, but is in fact quite underpowered</p><p>The Peugeot 2008 is like a sleek-looking person dressed in a cashmere polo neck. A smidge unusual, with a trace of charisma; you don’t know whether you want to hug it or smell it.</p><p>It has a very open view, thanks to the wide windscreen and the determined addition of windows where you didn’t expect them (little triangular ones in front of the wing mirror, a panoramic sunroof). I inferred a pure, unadulterated pride in the French countryside. It turned out the visibility was poor – too many struts between panes of glass – and the panoramic roof was a booby trap. (It looked as though it should open, but was, in fact, only decorative; in the course of pushing every button to find that out, I accidentally called Peugeot’s roadside emergency unit. This is an additional feature costing £250, when surely any normal person would pay £250 not to have it.)</p><p> <span>Related: </span><a href="https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/jul/30/citroen-ds3-cabrio-car-review">Citroën DS3 Cabrio car review: ‘There is nothing about this car that doesn’t make perfect sense when you’re eight’</a> </p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/aug/13/car-review-peugeot-2008">Continue reading...</a>MotoringTechnologySat, 13 Aug 2016 10:00:04 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/aug/13/car-review-peugeot-2008Photograph: PR Company HandoutPhotograph: PR Company HandoutZoe Williams2016-08-13T10:00:04ZFord Focus car review – ‘It has a slightly naff, travelling-salesman back story, but the handling is beautiful’https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/aug/06/ford-focus-car-review
<p>There are sports-style seats, lots of red stitching, a large rear spoiler, a front grille that looks like the mouth of a predator…</p><p>“People,” (I am channelling Ford’s marketing manager, talking to the car designers here) “who is the Focus actually for?”</p><p>“Is it,” suggests a middle-ranking designer, possibly wearing a bow tie, “a young executive who hasn’t hit his full earning potential and enjoys the open road?”</p><p> <span>Related: </span><a href="https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/jul/30/citroen-ds3-cabrio-car-review">Citroën DS3 Cabrio car review: ‘There is nothing about this car that doesn’t make perfect sense when you’re eight’</a> </p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/aug/06/ford-focus-car-review">Continue reading...</a>MotoringTechnologySat, 06 Aug 2016 10:00:04 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/aug/06/ford-focus-car-reviewPhotograph: Thomas Butler Photographer/PR Company HandoutPhotograph: Thomas Butler Photographer/PR Company HandoutZoe Williams2016-08-06T10:00:04ZCitroën DS3 Cabrio car review: ‘There is nothing about this car that doesn’t make perfect sense when you’re eight’https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/jul/30/citroen-ds3-cabrio-car-review
‘Acceleration is nothing to boast about, even in the most advantageous circumstances, such as going down a hill’<p>The highpoint of life with the jaunty little DS3 Cabrio was when I filled it with children, opened the retro fabric roof and worked out how to Bluetooth my phone to the hi-fi. We sat in a layby – there were more children than seatbelts, so I&nbsp;had to decant some before we could move – waving our hands in the blue, blue sky and singing to <a href="http://www.little-mix.com" title="">Little Mix</a>: children like to stick their hands out of roofs the way dogs like to stick their noses out of windows. There is nothing about this car, from its contrasting blue-and-white colour to its curiously inaccessible letterbox boot, that doesn’t make perfect sense if you’re eight. I guess we have to&nbsp;assume 18-year-olds are the same.</p><p>The cabin is well-designed; it doesn’t feel cramped in the front, the dash is pleasing and I am such a convert to the leather steering wheel that I now feel something like the sharp offence of shiny bogroll whenever I’m required to touch anything else. It also has a leather handbrake, leather door trim and a&nbsp;gloss black knob, if you please. Personalisation is a big thing for this model, with a thousand variations in trim and colour to allow full expression of your, erm, personality.</p><p> <span>Related: </span><a href="https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/jun/11/peugeot-208-gti-car-review-zoe-williams">Peugeot 208 GTI car review – ‘It’s gunning for the boy racer market’</a> </p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/jul/30/citroen-ds3-cabrio-car-review">Continue reading...</a>MotoringCitroënTechnologySat, 30 Jul 2016 10:00:03 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/jul/30/citroen-ds3-cabrio-car-reviewPhotograph: Daniel Pullen 07747 601871/PR Company HandoutPhotograph: Daniel Pullen 07747 601871/PR Company HandoutZoe Williams2016-07-30T10:00:03ZKia Sportage car review: ‘It’s trying to look a bit beefier and more SUV-ish than it actually is’https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/jul/16/car-review-kia-sportage-zoe-williams
<p>Once the Kia has settled into its speed, it is confident, solid and grippy</p><p>I think the Kia Sportage is best understood channelled through the energy of family resentment. Imagine you have a&nbsp;cousin who has always been better than you at things you pretend not to care about. In adolescence, your parents said: “Why can’t you be more like Steve?” and your tacit response was a direct 50:50 split between: “Because Steve is a twat” and: “Why couldn’t I have had a&nbsp;manly name like Steve?”</p><p>Anyway, fast forward to 2016, and Steve has arrived on your drive with a Kia Sportage. He must be doing OK for himself, you think (it is £31,650 OTR), and yet he is moving in circles where he doesn’t quite feel he belongs. This is a car that’s trying to look a bit beefier, more SUV-ish and ski slope-ready than it actually is. The snout has a curvaceous, American styling but the drive is a&nbsp;little diesel-ey and wheezy, not so much New Hampshire as regular Hampshire. So Steve has a little bit of status anxiety, you think. Maybe later you’ll test him at ping pong.</p><p> <span>Related: </span><a href="https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/jun/04/mazda-mx-5-car-review">Mazda MX-5 car review: ‘It’s dead cute’ | Zoe Williams</a> </p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/jul/16/car-review-kia-sportage-zoe-williams">Continue reading...</a>MotoringTechnologySat, 16 Jul 2016 10:00:08 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/jul/16/car-review-kia-sportage-zoe-williamsPhotograph: Nick Dimbleby/PRPhotograph: Nick Dimbleby/PRZoe Williams2016-07-16T10:00:08ZNissan Leaf 30kWh Tekna car review – ‘It’s relaxing’https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/jul/09/nissan-leaf-car-review-zoe-williams
<p>With a top speed just shy of 90mph, the Leaf doesn’t have many pretensions in the boy racer department </p><p>Often, when I think an idea won’t catch on (the mobile phone, the breakfast bar), it’s just because I haven’t thought about it as hard as its inventor has; I&nbsp;fear this may be true of the Nissan Leaf. It struck me as inherently preposterous to design a car that has to be delivered on the back of another car, because no one can be sure it’ll make the journey on electricity alone.</p><p>While we’re here, why eschew the option of a petrol hybrid? Why not throw in some petrol so that the superbly organised can bask in their virtue, having remembered to charge it for eight (or 16) hours the night before (depending on the voltage), while the feckless can be allowed to sometimes forget?</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/jul/09/nissan-leaf-car-review-zoe-williams">Continue reading...</a>Electric, hybrid and low-emission carsMotoringTechnologyEnvironmentEthical and green livingSat, 09 Jul 2016 10:00:13 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/jul/09/nissan-leaf-car-review-zoe-williamsPhotograph: PR Company HandoutPhotograph: PR Company HandoutZoe Williams2016-07-09T10:00:13ZOn the road: Ikea Sladda bicycle review – ‘Build your own Ikea bike? It’s either a masterstroke or a recipe for disaster’https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/jul/02/ikea-sladda-bicycle-review-helen-pidd
<p>I worried I’d not screwed everything in tightly enough </p><p>‘Ikea to start selling bikes” is a nightmare headline for the friendly independent bike shop. Not only could the Swedish behemoth take any custom the internet hasn’t already siphoned off, but the bike shop will end up having to fix those inevitable DIY bike-building disasters when people who call saddles “seats” are let loose with some Allen keys.</p><p>The Sladda comes flat-packed, of course. I set aside an hour to build mine, figuring I know more or less what I’m doing. But an hour wasn’t nearly long enough: I started at noon and finished at five, with time off for lunch. I got stuck three times: first when I put on the front forks the wrong way, next by fixing the kick-stand backwards, so the pedals wouldn’t turn, and finally when I put on the handlebars upsidedown. As ever with Ikea, there are no written instructions, just ambiguous pictures.</p><p> <span>Related: </span><a href="https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/apr/23/electra-glam-punk-3i-bicycle-review">Electra Glam Punk 3i bike review | Helen Pidd</a> </p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/jul/02/ikea-sladda-bicycle-review-helen-pidd">Continue reading...</a>CyclingTechnologyIkeaLife and styleSat, 02 Jul 2016 10:00:06 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/jul/02/ikea-sladda-bicycle-review-helen-piddPhotograph: PR Company HandoutPhotograph: PR Company HandoutHelen Pidd2016-07-02T10:00:06ZToyota Prius car review - ‘I hurtled like a country driver in this goody-two-shoes of the road’https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/jun/25/car-review-toyota-prius-zoe-williams
<p>I expect to find myself overstepping the 30mph mark in a cheeky Mazda, but not in this</p><p>It is commonplace to remark that the Toyota Prius surprises pedestrians by sneaking up on them when they, in their bovine 20th-centuriness, are still expecting cars to make a noise. What I didn’t expect was how much it would surprise me while I was actually driving it.</p><p>It is so noiseless, and I am so conditioned to associate cars moving with engines revving, that even while my foot was on the accelerator, I was still astonished to find myself hurtling towards a tree. And that was nothing on the poke it has as you pootle around town. I expect to find myself overstepping the 30mph mark in a cheeky Mazda, but to catch myself hurtling like a country driver in a car whose raison d’etre is to be the goody-two-shoes of the road was… well, it was like the arrival of some horrific and unwanted self-awareness. Maybe it’s not the car and has never been the car. Maybe I just have a heavy right foot.</p><p> <span>Related: </span><a href="https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/jun/11/peugeot-208-gti-car-review-zoe-williams">Peugeot 208 GTI car review – ‘It’s gunning for the boy racer market’</a> </p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/jun/25/car-review-toyota-prius-zoe-williams">Continue reading...</a>MotoringTechnologySat, 25 Jun 2016 10:00:11 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/jun/25/car-review-toyota-prius-zoe-williamsPhotograph: Richard_Newton/Richard NewtonPhotograph: Richard_Newton/Richard NewtonZoe Williams2016-06-25T10:00:11ZVauxhall Astra Sports Tourer 1.6CDTi car review – ‘Like a surprisingly fast donkey’https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/jun/18/vauxhall-astra-sports-tourer-review-surprisingly-fast-donkey
<p>I suppose, for the person to whom this would appeal, it is a big deal that you’d look more like a company man than a minicab driver</p><p>‘Sports-style front seats,” brags the Vauxhall Astra Sports Tourer. “Chrome-effect upper window trim.” It is the smallness of the boasts that makes them sound so Alan Partridge, that and the fact the seats aren’t sports style in any meaningful sense; and if they were, they would look radically dissonant against the car itself, which is about as sporty as a flesh-coloured surgical truss.</p><p>The emerald green of mine is the kind of colour that conveys status to people who play golf. Elaborate alarm systems complain constantly about factors over which you, as driver, have no control; a person walking behind you in stationary traffic will unleash the beeping of imminent catastrophe; parking is like an atonal symphony. Visibility isn’t great, owing to the rather thick and overcautious window pillars, and there is a fragrance diffuser, upon request – the very endpoint of middle-management fussiness, like having a fan on your underpants.</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/jun/18/vauxhall-astra-sports-tourer-review-surprisingly-fast-donkey">Continue reading...</a>MotoringVauxhallTechnologySat, 18 Jun 2016 10:00:08 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/jun/18/vauxhall-astra-sports-tourer-review-surprisingly-fast-donkeyPhotograph: PR Company HandoutPhotograph: PR Company HandoutZoe Williams2016-06-18T10:00:08ZPeugeot 208 GTI car review – ‘It’s gunning for the boy racer market’https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/jun/11/peugeot-208-gti-car-review-zoe-williams
<p>It could be from an 80s film about some neets who steal a car</p><p>There will always be something ludicrous about the two-tone car. It makes you look as if you’ve taken its decorative aspect too literally, and think it’s a handbag. But if you’re going to have two colours, black and red are at least mischievous and not twee. And the Peugeot 208 needs to look like that: it’s gunning for the boy racer market, but its shape doesn’t really give that away. Only the headlight clusters at the front look modern, curved blinking eyes echoed in a near-symmetrical low light. Otherwise, no offence, it could be from a 1980s film about some neets who steal a&nbsp;car – if it weren’t for the colourway. Often I couldn’t find it in a car park, because I couldn’t remember which end was which colour or, for that matter, which way I’d parked. But I&nbsp;filed that under “my problem”.</p><p>The cabin looks sleek, and then you sit down. The seats are low and hard, there is very little cushioning, inside or out, and road shocks ring through you like the starting gun at a poorly attended sports day. The positioning of the wheel, bizarrely, obscured the speedometer, so I&nbsp;could tell how fast I was going only by disapproving looks. The 1.6 litre turbo-charged engine is generous for the car size, but in the city you felt the lag on the turbo more than the turbo itself. Accelerating off the lights wasn’t as much fun as you’d think.</p><p> <span>Related: </span><a href="https://www.theguardian.com/money/2016/may/07/volvo-xc90-car-review-safety-was-the-last-thing-on-my-mind-in-this-beast">Volvo XC90 car review – ‘Safety was the last thing on my mind in this beast’</a> </p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/jun/11/peugeot-208-gti-car-review-zoe-williams">Continue reading...</a>MotoringTechnologyPeugeotSat, 11 Jun 2016 10:00:08 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/jun/11/peugeot-208-gti-car-review-zoe-williamsPhotograph: PR Company HandoutPhotograph: PR Company HandoutZoe Williams2016-06-11T10:00:08Z